A judge sentenced a man who won a $10 million prize on a scratch-off lottery ticket in 2017 to spend the rest of his life in prison just five years later. Michael Todd Hill, 54, will do a life bid in prison for the 2020 fatal shooting of his 23-year-old girlfriend.
On Friday, the befallen North Carolina lottery winner was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced without the possibility of parole in the 2020 fatal shooting of his former girlfriend, Keonna Graham, 23, WSPA reported. According to the outlet, Graham was reported missing on July 20, 2020. She was later found dead at the SureStay Hotel in Shallotte, North Carolina. She had a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Prosecutors said surveillance footage from the hotel showed Hill was the only person in the room with Graham. Hill later confessed to shooting her after she had been texting with other men while at the hotel.
Reportedly, the pair were in an “on-again, off-again” relationship.
Three years prior to confessing to the murder, Hill won $10 million from an Ultimate Millions scratch-off ticket. CBS News described Hill as a nuclear power plant worker before collecting his winnings. He reportedly intended to use his lump-sum winnings of over $4,159,000, after taxes, to pay off bills and help his “wife’s” business. There is no record, however, of him ever legitimately marrying anyone.
After winning the prize, he gave $2,000 to the cashier who sold him the ticket, WECT reported.
